I had so much fun writing this book. It's hard to categorise, but it's partially a comic take on the Victorian school novels of Talbot Baines Reed (I'm a huge fan) as well as an affectionate look at some familiar tropes from contemporary Young Adult fiction. I suppose I wrote it to amuse myself, but also because it gave me the opportunity to work with my old friend The Reverend Henry Martin who took as his inspiration the work of Pauline Baynes who illustrated the Narnia books.